Top 5 Online Money Games for Kids
Teaching kids how to manage money is one of the best lessons they can learn before setting off on their own, and it is never too early to start. The top five online money games for kids teach kids about the value of money. Not only do kids learn basic money concepts, such as how to count coins and make change, but many games also help kids learn about saving and responsible spending.
Mad Money
PBS Kids’ Mad Money has players choose an item and then guides them through 30 days of earning, spending and saving to get enough money to purchase that item. Once the item is chosen, kids are provided with a shopping list and must browse the stores in the game to purchase the items on the list. A $15 allowance is added to their account every day. At each store, players must make choices to find the items on their shopping list. For example, they must decide paying $5 for a shirt they will only wear to a school dance or $15 for a shirt they will wear to the dance and regularly afterward. Unexpected spending opportunities also pop up occasionally to challenge kids during the game.
H.I.P. Pocket Change
The United States Mint’s H.I.P. Pocket Change website offers multiple games to help kids learn about the U.S. Mint and U.S. history. Quarter Explorer helps kids learn about the U.S. Mint’s commemorative state quarters. Kids work to complete tasks, such as matching the quarter’s design to the appropriate state, to earn quarters to continue playing the game. The Making Change and Cents of Color games allow kids to color quarters representing the 50 states, or design their own quarters to help them more interested in learning about money.
Change Maker
Funbrain’s Change Maker has kids figure out how much change they will receive based on a bill in order to fill their virtual piggy bank. Kids may play with amounts of $1 at the beginner level and as much as $100 at the advanced level. The game also allows kids to choose whether to play with American, Canadian, Mexican, British, or Australian currency. For each problem, kids are given the amount of the sale and the amount paid, then must identify the number of each coin or bill that will be received to represent the correct amount of change. For an incorrect answer, kids are shown the correct answer in number form and coin form.
It All Adds Up
It All Adds Up provides games to help students learn about financial concepts, such as saving, budgeting, spending, and investing. In the budgeting game, students are given scenarios and must identify whether they are fixed expenses, variable expenses, or generators of income. Spending games guide students through activities such as buying a car. Other games help guide students through getting and using a credit card responsibly, paying for college and setting up a savings account. These games will work well to help accompany a math teacher’s curriculum or for parents to teach their teenagers more about money.
Practical Money Skills
Practical Money Skills takes popular video game ideas and uses them to teach kids about money. Kids will enjoy playing Financial Football where they answer financial questions to advance in a football game. Ed’s Bank has kids help the main character of the gain collect enough money to buy the items he desires. Other games help kids navigate financial processes, such as saving money, buying a house and planning for retirement.
